Paul j



Dec. 11,1923. Re. 15,732

P. J. SIMMEN TRACK HAZARD INDICATOR Original Filed Aug. 2, 1915 Inventor Paul J.5immch any.

Reiaued D... 11, 1923.

UNITED STATES PAUL J. SIMMEN, OF EDEN, NEW YORK.

TRACK-HAZARD INDICATOR.

Original No 1,287,474, dated December 10, 1918, Serial No. 95,080, filed May 3, 1918. Application for reissue filed August 13, 1921.

T 0 all wlwm it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL J. SIMMEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Eden, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a. new and useful Track-Hazard Indicator, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the control of moving vehicles, and its novelty consists in the principles .governing the operation of the devices employed in the construction of such devices and their adaptation to the peculiarpurpose for which they are to be 'used. 7

The invention is applicable to all forms of moving vehicles which are under the control of an operator, viz., an engine driver on a locomotive, a motor man on a trolley car or a chauffeur onan automobile, and the purpose of the invention is to guide the operator in the performance of hisduties b cgtion of the speed permissible along the line of travel andv the hazards which pertain thereto. All vehicles of the class described are provided with a brake or some similar device by'which the vehicle can be retarded. .My purpose is to indicate the permissible speed so that the brake may be employed by the 0 rator under service conditions within al limits of safety or expediency,

but when such conditions are exceeded thatv such control shall be taken away from the o erator and the vehicle suiiiciently retarded or stopped altogether so as to prevent disaster. In the accomplishment of. the end sought there is. rovided on the vehicle within the operators range of vision an actual speed indicator so that he may note what the actual rate of speed of the vehicle is. There is also-provided within his range of vision a permissive speed indicator so that he may know at all times what is the maximum speed permitted by the vehicle; and there is further provided what may be called a track hazard indicator by which there is disclosed the different hazards along the right of way which afi'ect or should affect the speed, such as bridges, grade crossings, dangerous curves, yard limits, passages through densely populated districts and the like. This track hazard indicator is proproviding him with an automatic indi- Serial No. 492,156.

vided with means for automatically varying the position of the permissive speed 1ndicator'to show the predetermined permissible speed at all of the indicated hazards.

Enough has been said to disclose the na ture of the invention, and apreferred form of its embodiment will now be described, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a plan of a construction embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is an enlarged front view of the indicator dial; Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the valve air box; Fig. 5 is a detail of a modified form of the hazard indicator, and Fig. 6 is a similar view of a second modification of the same. The views are all somewhat diagrammatic in character with as much structural detail eliminated as possible in order to simplify the description and to promote a clear understanding of the invention.

In the drawings, 10 indicates the wheels of a vehicle to which the invention is applied, 11 being an axle connecting them. Mounted in suitable bearings 12 at any convenient place on the vehicle is a shaft 13 rotated from the axle 11 by power-transmitting mechanism indicated at 14, and secured on the shaft is an actual speed indicator in the form of a centrifugal governor 15 which comprises a collar 16 slidable on the shaft 13 and provided externally with annular teeth 17 forming in effect a rack adapted to mesh with a pinion 18 rigidly secured on a hollow shaft 19 on which is rigidly mounted in turn a 'hand or pointer 20 adapted to be moved in front of 'a dial 21 raduated cir cularly in terms of miles per our or some other suitable notation.

A solid shaft 25 runs through the hollow shaft 19 and is adapted to rotate in bearings on the same center. Loosely mounted on this shaft 25 but insulated therefrom by a bushing 26 is a contactor comprisin -a radial arm 27', and a laterally projecting bar 28, the end 29 of which is made of insulating material. Rigidly mounted on this same shaft is a needle or ointer 30 which may be called the perm1ssive speed indicator pointer and which is moved in front of the dial 21. An electric conductor 31 runs from this pointer to a battery indicated at 32,

and a second electric conductor 33 runs to the same battery from the non-insulating portion of the bar 28.

A usual train air pipe 34 passes through a box 35 located at a convenient place on the vehicle and which box contains a valve 36 adapted to open and close the pipe and which is operated by a solenoid 37 mounted in the box, the parts being so arranged that when the solenoid is energized the valve is closed, and when itis deenergized the valve is opened and the air escapes through a port 38 in the box 35 and the brakes are set to retard or stop the vehicle. The construction and mode of operation of an air brake system of this kind is well understood. The

solenoid 37 is in circuit with the battery 32 and conductors 31 and 33.

Arranged at a convenient place within the vehicle and preferably Within the range of vision of the o rator is what is termed a track hazard in icator comprising a band 40 of flexible material removably mounted upon and adapted to be wound upon and unwound from a pair of rollers 41 and 42, one of which is moved from a power transnutting mechanism indicated at 43 receivin its power from the same source and at t e same rate as that which transmits ower to the actual speed indicator. A suita 1e clutch indicated at 44 serves to promote the roper engagement of the mechanism and by actuating one or the other of the rollers 41 and 42 to reverse the direction of movement of the band 40.

The upper edge of the band 40 is arranged in profi e varying in distance from a maximum at the uppermost level 45 to the lowermost level 46. Along its lowermost edge it is preferabl graduated to indicate miles traveled. e depth of the profile is arranged to corres lid with the permissive s eed of the vehic e at different points along t e line of travel, the maximum level corresponding to a maximum speed,. the minimum level to minimum speed and the intermediate levels to intermediate speeds. The

extent of these levels also indicate the len h of the line of travel along which suc speeds are rmissible. Coup ed with the mlleage gra uations there may be displayed on the band conventional signs representing the nature of the hazards, for instance, a village indicated by an outline of a church, a curve right or le by a heavy curved line, a railroad or other crossing by a cross and other appropriate symbols, so that an operating studying such a band may inform himself in advance of the usual hazards along his contemplated line of travel.

Arran d to contact with the upper or profile edge of the band 40 is a roller 50 at the lower end of a rack bar 51, the teeth of which are adapted to mesh with the teeth of a pinion 52 rigidly mounted on the shaft 25, so that as the rack rises and falls as the band with its profile of variable level passes under and in rolling contact with the trolley 50 the shaft 25 is oscillated and consequently the pointer 30 is oscillated. As the pointer 30 moves to the right or left the contactor 27 is moved with it, actual contact promoting such movement to the right and a spring 53. between them securing it to the left.

Now, so long as the actual speed indicator pointer 20 is to the left of the pointer 30, that is, so long as the actual speed of the vehicle is below the permissive speed, nothing happens, but the moment the actual speed exceeds such permissive speed, the pointer 20 is brought to contact with the insulated ortion 29 of the arm 28, on the contactor 2i and breaks the contact between the conducting portion of such arm and the pointer 30. Consequently, the circuit through the arts 28 and 30, conductors 31 and 33 is bro en, the air valve of the brake system is opened, the-air escapes and the brakes are automatically applied to retard or stop the vehicle.

That is, if at any time the operator fails to keep his actual speed below the permissive speed, as indicated by the position of the pointer 30, then the vehicle is automatically retarded or stopped. He has control of his speed at all times within 1e itimate limits but the control is automatically taken away from him as soon as his speed exceeds the permissible. The extent and duration of the permissive speed is determined by the nature of the profile on the band 40.

It is obvious that variations may be made- In the mechanical detail of the device, without departing from the rinciples of the invention. The precise hazard indicator is not material. It may be in the form of a circular disk with the proper profile on its edge and the trolley 50 contacting therewith (see Fig. 5), it may, where the length is to be desired, assume the form of a s iral flange projected from a revoluble cy indrical hub with the profile on the edge of the flange, (see Fig. 6), but in whatever form it may be made, it must be capable of being removabl secured to the vehicle. The device afior s a positive di-- rect control of the speed on a run under operative conditions without any external signal or'dispatching systems. It may be suitably combined withsuch systems or timing systems also, but these must, of necessity, outside of the scope of this'descr1ption. While the invention has been described as particularly applicable to a moving vehicle under the control of an operator, it is very easily conceivable that the ap aratus is applicable to moving vehicles w ich are not under the control of an operator 'without varying from the principles of the orm of the trackter of this application has been 7 all throughout the specification as a track implied] indicator, a track haza particular invention for controlling the l he track hazard indicator has also been described as of a form in which the maximum speed indication corresponds with the upper edge of the moving band. Of course it will be understood that this could be reversed and that-the minimumspeed indication might correspond with such u per edge and the maximum indication wit The device which forms the sub'ect-matescribed hazard indicator, and'reference has been made to its use with moving vehicles, and with those'whichmove alon a track. t will of course be understood t at the inventionis equally applicable to a moving vehicle which does not move along a I trackl,1 andin that case possibly the term of wayazard indicator would be moreappropriate for the particular device in question; but it is thought that no misunderstanding can arise from the use of the word track in connection with the device described.

What I claim is: v

1. The combination with a vehicle, of an actual speed indicator, a permissive speed indicator, a track hazard indicator and operative connection between the latter and the permissive speed indicator.

2. The combination with a vehicle, of an actual speed indicator, a permissive speed indicator, a track hazard indicator and an r o erative connection between the latter and t e rmissive speed indicator, all carried out e vehicle.

3. The combination with a vehicle, of an actual speed indicator, a rmissive indicator and means operated from the latter automatically to vary the position of the permissive indicator in accordance with the indicated hazards.

4. The combination with a vehicle, of an actual speed indicator, a permissive speed a lower z level of the band. 7 v

file.

indicator and a track hazard indicator, the latter being at the same time a controller for the permissive speed indicator.

5. The combination with a vehicle of an speed of the vehicle whereby the relation between the two speeds may be observed.

6. The combination with a vehicle of a track-hazard indicator provided with a profile corresponding to the varyin speeds permissible to the vehicle along t e route,

means for moving the indicator proportionately to the extent of travel of the vehicle and a member resting against such rofile and moved by the variations in sai pro- 7. The combination with a vehicle of a track hazard indicator provided with a profile corresponding .to the varyi speeds permissible to the vehicle along the route, means for moving the indicator proper 4 tionately to the extent of travel of the vehicle and a member resting against such profile and moved 'by the variations in said profile, a dial duated in terms of spec:i a pointer mova le in front of the same a an operative connection between the pointer and such member. v

8. The combination with a vehicle, of a track hazard indicator provided with a profile corresponding to the varying 8 ds permissible to the vehicle along 5: mute, means for moving the indicator proportionately to the extent of travel of the vehicle and a rack bar resting by gravity upon such profile and adapted to be reciprocated as the indicator moves, a dial graduated in terms of speed, a pointer arranged in frontof the dia and an operative connection between the rack bar and the pointer.

In testimony whereof I afix my. signature.

PAUL J. SIMMEN. 

